ok, i'm putting this up here so i can't back out.when my little girl was born, i found plenty of reasons not to ride. she's 3 now.. maybe i can finish this before she turns 4.so here goes:

so.. i have a few old bikes:

i also have other framesets not pictured, but those are to be sold/gifted/stashed.

the plan is to consolidate a bit. ideally, i want an errands bike and a latte bike. oh, and maybe a cyclocross/dirt roader.

errands: ride to the shops for bread and milk - something i can ride/park in the rain and not get emotional about. i'm thinking velo-orange style herelatte: something for myself, and others, to admire. you know the type. polish, clean, wax, detail? sure! ride? not so much..

i really want to keep the blue and white superlite and build it up as a period (c.1989) road bike. when i was a kid in high school, this was the coolest bike i knew of - i didn't know much about bikes.if i build this up it will have better than standard components, but i won't be getting too particular or weenie about it.7speed dura ace derailleurs and shift levers, a polished 105 crankset, some 6500 brake levers and silver velocity aeroheads. coffee time!

the '89 europa is fairly generic, and certainly needs repainting. no eyelets for fenders, so this one will either be singlespeed, or.. or, something else. i really don't know what to do with this one yet.. maybe a bit of a vintage look? must also try 35c tyres for brake bridge/fork clearance. potential cx machine awaits.

the '92 lemond. this is the nicest frame i currently have. this one should get a nice paintjob and a campy drivetrain. keep saving. i have those blue ambrosio excellence wheels on daytona hubs doing nothing.. latte bike in the making.

the '94 cfr1 has full 6400 ultegra groupset, with some deepv's on 6500 ultegra hubs. i've considered making this single-speed and putting the 600 gear on something else, like the europa. i like the drivetrain, but i think once i've built up the dura-ace drivetrain, it might not be so nice. i should just sell it. $400 ono

the last one is another repco, a '94 olympic 14. tig welded cromo main tubes. pretty average frame, but it fits nicely. also has eyelets. maybe this is my errands bike. not perfect (it's not even lugged, man), but adequate. currently fitted out with a mish-mash of gear. deep v's, shimano drivetrain, campy brakeset.

the first thing to lock in is the bars. to me, bars determine the whole feel of the bike. it is currently fitted with cinelli 66-40 drop bars with campag victory/triomph brake levers. until i lock in bars, i can't really decide on controls either (sti, downtube, aero, non-aero, barcons, thumbies) all these choices.. while i think about bars, what can i lock in?

BRAKES: no canti bosses, so centrepull, single- or dual-pivot brakes are required. dual-pivot, thanks. i'll be carrying gear on the bike, so brakes need to be as good as they can be.i have some silver shimano rsx dual-pivot brakes - a polish and some new pads and they'll be perfect for the job.

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

Most of them seem to be flatter across the top - having two pivot points seems to make having a big arc at the top too hard. Most of the single pivots seem better able to cope with taller tyres. Centre pulls and cantis are more fun to play with - you have to futz around with cable hangers, the cable routing requires some thought etc. Far more interesting I reckon.

Then again, if you just want to ride it... do a quick trial fit!

edit:

(whoops monster picture reduced!)See how the brake arm cuts across the arc on the right hand side? The RSX might be better than those, but the Tektros on my Orbea are quite a bit worse than that.

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

'scuse me Munga, first thing you need to do is reverse the brake blocks on those Campagnolo sidepulls, otherwise you'll wonder what ejected off the front of the bike when they're first used in anger [hint: it won't be you].

rustychisel wrote:'scuse me Munga, first thing you need to do is reverse the brake blocks on those Campagnolo sidepulls, otherwise you'll wonder what ejected off the front of the bike when they're first used in anger [hint: it won't be you].

damn, i just knew someone would pull me up about that. Was so keen to get them on, i didn't realise at the time. All fixed now - i just didnt have any other pics with the 35's on

the '92 lemond. this is the nicest frame i currently have. this one should get a nice paintjob and a campy drivetrain. keep saving. i have those blue ambrosio excellence wheels on daytona hubs doing nothing.. latte bike in the making.

Sorry to hear about the engine munga. Good old chain driven valves are so out of fashion but I don't know why.

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

munga wrote:when my little girl was born, i found plenty of reasons not to ride. she's 3 now.. maybe i can finish this before she turns 4.

my daughter turned four in feb. damn.however, we recently moved, so that excuse should last at least another year.i actually wheeled out the old repco and took her for a ride today. baby steps.

These things come and go munga - I reckon all of us go through phases of manic activity, followed by a cull and a rethink about what we need, followed by another round of manic activity depending on finances/time/motivation etc.

I had a bit of a cull last year, followed by two (modern) bike builds and now I'm keen on doing another couple of retro builds but this time I'm pretty specific about what I want. The trouble with a lot of tip shop bikes is that they are kinda distracting, plenty of fun, but ultimately just versions of what you already have which makes it hard to get motivated. I'm becoming a bit pickier in that I know what the gaps are in my motley collection and I'm aiming to fill them rather than being swayed by what drifts past me in the stream of junk.

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

it's a bit like not using indicators in the car, isnt it. *I* know where i'm going and that's all that matters..

in the meantime, i picked up a colnago master x light, and another repco, an olympic 12.the master x light was fitted with campag veloce 9sp and campag scirroco g3 wheels. it's currently bare and hanging up with some other skeletons:

the current plan is to get the colnago cleaned up and fitted out with campag centaur in the century grey finish.i have most parts. need to change over the fd to clamp-on. still looking for a suitable headset, seatpost and rims:

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